fanatical ;

starter for: open, @senatusstarters where: all fours horse girl fact: beer is given to horses to treat anhidrosis, thanks big john the draft horse from tiktok

"You smell like horse," he said. No hello, no how are you, no order. Lucas had been raised on a farm in Mexico long after the Spanish conquistadors - they'd had horses. He'd spend his time outs mucking out the stables but he remembered how much he liked to brush them. Smell was the human sense most connected to memory and this smell brought him back in time so harshly that it was all he could think about when he stood there.

"I did." And he missed Marisol but wasn't surprised in the slightest that she'd been the one to do what she did. Loving, selfless, a bit of a lovable goofball. There'd been a time where he'd thought that she wasn't going to take the job seriously but then he'd heard her talk about her son. Whatever spirits that had been ferried by her were lucky. "She loves you." Not past tense, it's said fondly, almost wistful because he has his own wife and child buried back in Ireland and it didn't matter how much time passed, he still cared for them. Giving a slight shake of his head, he looks from the statue to Marisol's son and he can't imagine how painful all of this has been for him. "Lucas, right? I'm Ciaran. I worked with her for a time." Just as he worked with all of the reapers, but he and Marisol had been parents, they'd bonded over that.

Lucas nodded to his name. "A Reaper," he mused, though it was void of the usual energy and curiousity he might have had. "Another servant of Tiamat." Still, there was a spark more life in his eyes as Lucas considered the fact he might learn more of his mother's second life through those that she might have cared for and who cared for her too.

There's a sad smile that curves on her lips because she thinks he's being damn brave about this, her cheeks turn a little pink at what great heart lies underneath that exterior, it's funny sometimes the way she hears the pack talk about him is so different than the man she's become intimate with. She keeps waiting for that moment where he launches into the most wild theories, turns into the Fanatic and loses his sense but all she's ever seen from him is a wolf that she agrees with and backs up. Even when he peed on that fire hydrant last week, she swatted the back of his head after letting out a howl of laughter -- she rarely deviates from the pack and is use to outrageous shenanigans, always being the first to challenge the others to a drinking contest at a party. "It might not help much but you were lucky to have such a loving mom. My parents were never sober and when I left, all I mourned was what could have been."

"Imagine being so stupid you lose the chance to get to know you," he muttered with a smile. Her parents were likely the height of stupidity but Lucas would never be more grateful to anyone else for doing something they likely didn't mean to do. They had brought to the world a she-wolf among sheep, queen among women, and their daughter surpassed anything that they ever were or were likely ever destined to be. The Gods blessed the most unlikely. Whether or not the pack saw these things the way the Fanatic did, Lucas believed that universe and its most powerful sentient beings were aware of so many things they themselves brought forth. Fate, Gods, manifestations of powerful emotions. He grew tired of preaching to non-believers, and he didn't wish to turn into the cult-members that had destroyed him, but while the Fanatic was quieter than he'd been decades ago, Lucas still prayed to the Lunar Lady and the King of Gods. Now he prayed that they would look favorably upon Flora if they weren't looking favorably upon him right now.

who?: @howlinglucas where?: the fairgrounds

He really liked the witch, and that was saying something because Lucas despised and distrusted most witches with a passion. It had taken much time for the lycan to warm up to Alder. But that time and seeing how much the Emissary helped than had eventually led to a bond, as Lucas cared for nothing more than he did the lycans. Anyone who helped them was a good part of his cause and Alder apparently had liked him enough to have the patience to deal with his tempers. That was also a plus in Lucas' book; people rarely had the patience for him outside his pack and it went both ways with him and his patience too.

Person: @howlinglucas Location: Near the statues of the 6

It was nearly Lupercalia and Lucas was finally learning how to take on his day-to-day life without feeling far too heavy over his mother's re-death. It was a slow process, and it certainly wasn't linear, but he felt the excitement of the upcoming event was giving him enough reason to be distracted and eager for something. He came to the statues for the first time in days to tell Marisol as much - even if he said the words just in his head.

"Is that even a question?" There is a growling quality to her words, even as she sits next to Lucas and sips at her mulled wine. It's harder, to control the wolf next to the pack she spent those long ten years with, but she manages. Barely, but she has to. They are in the middle of the city and it's too risky not to manage, too risky to lose the modicum of control she has fought to regain over the past few months. "Flora, obviously. She has the best head on her shoulders and she almost had it last year too, if Alek hadn't been on his volatile binge."

"Thought you'd say that," he mused, a grin edging on his lips as he shifts in his seat. "We're on the same page... Now that I think about it, I bet we're on the same page about a lot of things and we just never figured that out. No offense, but the Tiber always looked like they had their heads up their ass. That's why I never said hi way back when."

Otsana couldn't say that Lucas wasn't valid in his logic. As a Volatile, she supposed they had semi-similar experiences. But he'd done it much longer. She wondered if what she felt stuck within her own lycan form was anything like being a Volatile. It seemed likely, but it also felt like it really wasn't any of Otsana's business to ask. Lucas had seemingly made peace with what he'd done.

Bravery and stupidity had a very fine line and Lucas was never sure what side he was on most of the time, at least when he looked at vicious wolves and saw the animalistic side come out of them. There was not a single bit of fear in him, only satisfaction and pride - and now a touch of sympathy as he watched Otsana completely demolish the tree. He only stepped out of the way as the trunk and its branches came tumbling down. And when their feral scream of rage and pain came out, Lucas figured if the bond between packmates was still intact with an Alpha than he would have felt just how powerful those emotions were. He knew how that felt, he'd felt it many times and he'd lost count of how many times he'd screamed and howled at the sky. So he whooped, throwing his head back. It was therapeutic. Lucas than yelled, joining them in his screams as he let his anger join their's. Fuck them, he yelled out into the evening. Fuck them all.